More drug charges for mom who lost three kids in house fire

May 24, 2013

Rhiannon White's booking photo from Iowa. / Submitted photo

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A Sioux Falls woman who lost her children in a pre-Christmas house fire last year has been indicted on drug-related charges for a third time.

Rhiannon White, 35, was in court Thursday morning to answer for those charges and to accusations she’d continued using drugs while participating in the 24/7 sobriety program.

White is accused of making a false report to police March 24, failing to appear in court March 28 and possessing marijuana and methamphetamine while free on bond awaiting trial.

Judge Bradley Zell allowed her to be released on bond after picking up the March charges on the condition that she wear a drug patch. The drug patch tested positive for codeine and opiates May 8, according to prosecutors.

Zell set White’s bond at $10,000 cash-only on the new charges, saying she’d had a chance to prove her good behavior.

A fire Dec. 22 at White’s home at 1100 N. Main Ave. took the lives of her three children. She was indicted on drug possession charges based on a urine test taken at the hospital on the night of the fire that showed methamphetamine in her system.

She later was charged with child abuse and neglect, based on the same test results.